Mussels marinière

Today’s recipe is very simple, the hardest part will be cleaning the shells, but the cooking won’t take long.

Ingredients

1 Kg. Mussels

2 bay leaves

2 small onions, chopped

½ tablespoon paprika

1 ½ tablespoons flour

½ glass of white wine

1 cup cooking juices of the mussels

A bunch of fresh parsley, chopped

Salt (to taste)

Extra virgin olive oil

Directions

The first step is checking that the mussels are alive and in good shape (discard all the unresponsive open shells and those mussels with a broken shell. A simple criterion is that live mussels, when in the air, will shut tightly when disturbed).

Next we will have to thorough rinse in water and remove “the beard” with the help of a small knife.
Now that they are clean, let’s start by placing the mussels in a big pot with a bit of water, salt and bay leaves. Cover the pot and bring to a boil, when the shells are open, remove from heat and proceed to remove the meat from the shells. Normally it will be stuck to one side of the mussel, so we will discard the empty one. Set that aside and let’s start with the sauce.

Strain the cooking water and set aside. Heat some olive oil in a pan, add chopped onion and sauté until golden then add parsley and flour stir well and cook for a few minutes. Now add the cooking water, white wine and paprika. Stir and cook for a few minutes.

Incorporate the mussels and keep cooking on low heat for 15 more minutes or so. Stir occasionally to make sure the sauce doesn’t stick.

Let them stand a minute before serving and you are ready to go. Hope you like them.

And for dessert, what do you think about a delicious papaya smoothie?

Very simple, peel and chop a small papaya. Put it in a blender with ice and milk, beat for one minute and taste. Normally the sweetness of the fruit is enough, but you may add honey or sugar if needed.